Play Heavy Nova Online

Heavy Nova came out on the Sega Genesis in 1991, published by Micronet. It was one of those early side-scrolling action games that tried to mix different play styles, something a few developers were experimenting with at the time. The game doesn't get talked about much now, but it had a certain rough charm if you were into that era's particular brand of sci-fi brawlers.

You control a combat cyborg named Jack, moving through industrial and alien environments. The main goal is to fight through each stage, defeating enemies and a boss to progress. The gameplay shifts between standard side-scrolling combat, where you punch and shoot through waves of robots, and one-on-one arena battles that play out like a simplified fighting game. The pacing is uneven, with sudden difficulty spikes when enemies attack from all directions. It feels janky but ambitious, like the developers tried to pack in more ideas than the engine could smoothly handle.